The Child
by Cassandra Sisenta
Summary: Chiriko was always smiling. He seemed so cheerful no one noticed the cracks in his soul...


"The Child"

by Cassandra

And so now I try my hand at writing a Fushigi Yuugi fanfic. I hope that you would like this one. I don't know much about Chiriko so don't kill me if I get a lot of details wrong.

FY does not belong to me. 

R&R you!

***

I don't really know what I should feel right now.

I'm dead.

I lived a loyal sichiseishi to the end. I had fallen prey to an evil spirit and made me attack the Miko that I lived to protect. I felt weak at that time. I really did loathe myself for that.

I wasn't even supposed to answer my calling. I was in the middle for the Imperial tests when news of the Suzaku no Miko spread through the land like wild fire. Enthusiasm wasn't what I felt, I admit that I am selfish. If I answer my calling as a sichiseishi I would leave my wonderful world of knowledge. But in the end, it was my knowledge that led me to them.

I could read the starts and I saw danger in the constellations of Suzaku. They were disappearing. Fear and guilt filled me even as I prayed to Suzaku for guidance. There was nothing else that he communed to me than that I should go to them and fulfill my duty. Only I could save them now.

I did get to the ceremony but it was too late. The Seiryuu sichiseishi Amiboshi had done the damage that he was tasked to do. The ceremony for the calling of Suzaku could not be done. My first failure. They all seemed to understand my reasons and it was true that I seemed so cheerful at that time but inside I felt ashamed. Why did I not answer my calling earlier? Such childish selfishness!

At the age of 13 and after all my achievements, I am still considered a child. My untimely demise was sure proof of that fact. I was attacked and possessed by Miboshi because as a child, I had almost no spiritual shield. A child's mind is always open, thus easy to penetrate.

I had always been protected almost as much as Miaka because I was a child. If Chichiri-san wasn't there it was Mitsukake-san and if not Tasuki. I had always cursed this small form that I am forced to be in. In this form, I couldn't really do anything much for Miaka. It even seems sometimes that she's protecting me!

I have said these things, my thoughts, to Tasuki once. Others might say that he's just an idiot who played a bandit well, looking at the way he speaks, but to me he isn't. Tasuki could be a real jerk sometimes and he may act all tough and strong but in truth he's just misunderstood. A real man with a warm, soft heart. Who could count the many times he showed this side of his?

This Tasuki sighed as he declined against a tree, his red hair flaming by the light of the fire. He didn't look at me as he said, "Chiriko, you do stuff that none of us could ever do. You're intelligent. You could do so much more than me and my swiftness and this tessen. With that, you'll become so useful when our powers fail." He didn't even curse once. He became quiet for some time and I thought that he was thinking of what he said but when I looked he had fallen asleep. Then he began to snore. As you could see, the transformation did not last that long. 

As I think back at all of this, I realize that as much as I didn't like the fact that I was this small I still grieved for the innocence and youth that I lost. I never really knew what it was like to be a child. I never knew the joy in wasting time on fun and games. I never knew the warmth and simplicity of child-like friendship. 

Hotohori-sama must have felt the same, he who began ruling the Empire of Konan at a very young age.

But I guess I have it much worse. I'll remain forever young, a ghost, something sporadic. I'll never get the chance to really look back at what I have experienced. I have seen stupendous battles but only a miniscule of real life. I have been deprived, and I weep. I weep like the child I never was.

As a sichiseishi, I died with courage.

"He's the coolest guy I'll ever know!"

But no one noticed the tears that fell as the child screamed in fear.

owari

Give me a review or I'll have Doukun haunt you!!!


End file.
